David Joel Zippel (born May 17, 1954) is an American

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...

, director, and producer.

Early life and education

Zippel was born and raised in

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware Ri ...

in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Falling in love with theater as a child, Zippel first articulated his life's ambition to become a lyricist and director in junior high school. As an undergraduate at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

, he contributed lyrics to an equity production of "a bizarre political musical" called ''Rotunda'', which had a brief run in Washington, D.C. before graduating with a B.A. in 1976. Mindful of the difficulties of achieving success in theater, Zippel first obtained a J.D. degree from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

, graduating in the class of 1979. At Harvard, Zippel continued to pursue his ambition of writing several pop songs with singer Pamala Stanley that appeared on her 1979 debut album, ''This Is Hot'', and collaborating on three songs with Wally Harper, Barbara Cook's musical director, whose performance of the songs at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

in 1980 marked Zippel's own New York theatrical debut.

Career

Theatre

As lyricist/writer *'' City of Angels'' (1989), an original musical with book by Larry Gelbart and music by

Cy Coleman Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman; June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist. Life and career Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York City, United States, to Eastern European Jewish parents ...

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book, Best Actor (

James Naughton James Naughton (born December 6, 1945) is an American actor and director. He is best known as Michael Bower on '' Who's the Boss?'' (1984-1992) and was also notable for his earlier role as the astronaut Pete Burke in the 1974 single-season telev ...

) Best Featured Actress ( Randy Graff), and Best Set Design ( Robin Wagner); Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics; Olivier Awards for Best New Musical (1994), Best Musical Revival (2015); The Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical (1993) *'' The Goodbye Girl'' (1993), a musical based on Neil Simon's 1977 screenplay, with music by

Marvin Hamlisch Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. Hamlisch was one of only seventeen people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. This collection of all four is referred to as an " E ...

. Nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical; Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Lyrics. * ''Hercules'' (2019), an adaptation of the Disney animated film of the same name, with music by

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for '' The Little Mermaid'' (1989), '' Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ' ...

. *'' The Woman in White'' (2004), an adaptation of the novel by Wilkie Collins, with music by

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musical ...

, book by Charlotte Jones. The music and lyrics received a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score. The show was nominated for five

Laurence Olivier Awards The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

, including Best Musical. * ''Liza's at the Palace'' (2009), script co-written with

Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...

, special lyrics with music by John Kander and Billy Stritch; Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event (2009) * ''Cinderella'' (2020), a new adaptation of the classic story; with music by

, book by

Emerald Fennell Emerald Lilly Fennell (; born 1 October 1985) is an English actress, filmmaker, and writer. She has received many awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominatio ...

As conceiver/director *''Princesses'' (2004), loosely inspired by '' A Little Princess'' by

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little ...

. Zippel conceived and directed; book by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner, music by Matthew Wilder. The musical was produced at the 5th Avenue Theatre,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

, Washington, in August 2005, after a "developmental" production at Goodspeed Musicals' Norma Terris Theatre in fall 2004. *''The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman'', Indy Award for Best Direction (2010); Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue (2012) *''They're Playing His Songs: The Music of Marvin Hamlisch'' (2013) *''The Importance of Being Earnest (In New York)'' (2015) As producer *'' Spamilton: An American Parody'' (2016), Gerard Alessandrini's off-Broadway spoof of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway musical ''

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

'', Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Unique Theatrical Experience (2017); MAC Award for Show of the Year (2017)

Film and television

As lyricist/writer * Theme song for '' Veronica's Closet'' (1997), a sit-com starring Kirstie Alley Zippel contributed lyrics to '' The Swan Princess'' (1994) and provided the singing voice of Jean-Bob the Frog. He also wrote the lyrics for the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

films ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

'' (1997), with music by

(the song " Go the Distance" received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for Best Original Song), and '' Mulan'' (1998), with music by Matthew Wilder. The music and lyrics received an

nomination for Best Musical or Comedy Score and an

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally de ...

nomination for Music in an Animated Feature Production. He was in his agent Richard Kraft's film ''

Finding Kraftland ''Finding Kraftland'' is a 2006 independent documentary from Richard Kraft productions starring Stacey J. Aswad, Richard Kraft, and Nicholas Kraft. It premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on January 27, 2006 and continued to ...

''. ''Pamela's First Musical'', written with Coleman and

Wendy Wasserstein Wendy Wasserstein (October 18, 1950 – January 30, 2006) was an American playwright. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 ...

, based on Wasserstein's children's book, received its world premiere in a concert staging at Town Hall in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on May 18, 2008. In 2011, Zippel wrote the lyrics to the song "The Star-Spangled Man" featured in the film '' Captain America: The First Avenger''.

composed the music for the song, which was an affectionate send-up of 1940s Irving Berlin songs.

References

External links

* *
David Zippel profile
at Filmreference {{DEFAULTSORT:Zippel, David 1954 births Living people American lyricists American musical theatre lyricists Animation composers Annie Award winners Broadway composers and lyricists Easton Area High School alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Harvard Law School alumni Musicians from Easton, Pennsylvania Jewish American composers Jewish American songwriters Songwriters from Pennsylvania Tony Award winners Walt Disney Animation Studios people